I hope everyone got to watch this game last night. It was a good test and I think will help Bill calm the team down. When you're up to #3 in the polls, sometimes you need a close game like this to get your teams attention before the heads swell too much.
It was disappointing that we choked away our 11 point lead with 3 minutes to go. They went crazy from three and we decided it was a good time to start turning the ball over. Good to see Collins make the clutch free throws to ice the game though with 8 secs left. Plus he made the last second steal to ensure that GT couldn't shoot the game-tying three.
Russ Rob had an outstanding game all around. That may have been the best game I've seen him play, which is good, because other guys looked like dogshit. Rush, Arthur, and Kahn in particular. I've given up on Kahn. He's always great against the midget teams but disappears when the other team has a legit center. I'm also worried about Rush's knee. He looks okay on offense (just okay), but it sure looks to me like he has lost a step on D. There was more than one occasion where he was going to close out on a defender and couldn't get there in time. I think last year those shots would've been swatted into the third row. Can you guys see it with Rush? Arthur really needs to keep taking that step forward for this team to have a shot at the title. Jackson also picked a bad game to revert to 2006 Jackson.
Damn Deron, you posted yours before I finished mine.
ReplyDeleteBTW I've got some weird news. I am moving to Dodge City, Kansas. Yes, that Dodge City. i got a job out there with the County Attorney's office. I think it will help with my career development and then I'll probably mosey back across the state in a year or two.
I knew this would happen; nobody posts for a week and then suddenly ... two simultaneous posts.
ReplyDeleteSee my thoughts on the G-Tech game below, and also some love for new AP Coach of the Year Mark Mangino.(!)
Congrats on your move, SJ; I heard a little about it from Jesse. As I've said many times, it's about time somebody cleaned up Dodge City.
Keegan disagrees with you on Kaun's performance, SJ, and for once I (more or less) agree with him.
ReplyDeleteCut Sasha some slack. He was excellent on D (three blocks). He went 1 for 1 from the field and 5 for 6 from the line. Sounds like a pretty efficient 26 minutes to me. The only negative was that he should have gotten more rebounds.
I second the "damn" (from the previous post). But you have to mention the kick that followed.
ReplyDeleteHow can you improve on an awesome put-back? High-kick.
Video here.
SI on Sherron Collins, who save the game for us. After he almost lost it with the falling out of bounds play.
ReplyDeletePS, Congrats on the new job, Scott.
ReplyDeleteThis may be the wrong way to look at things, but as far as the breakdown in Atlanta, I like that we can still win when things get that far off track. Talent, a deep roster, and good-to-great defense alone probably can't get us all the way to San Antonio, but they sure will help.
Great last line in that SI story. Thanks for the link, Chris.
ReplyDeleteYeah, good article. Sherron did make a dumb play there at the end, but he is very poised for a soph.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your earlier comment, Yancy: I don't think we CAN win against good teams if things get THAT off-track. The whistles all went our way in Atlanta, the opponent was weak, yet we still almost blew it. If we play like that at Boston College (a good, though not great, team), we're screwed.
But I'm still banking on improvement throughout the season, which has happened with the last two KU teams. I thought B-Rush made some nice defensive plays, but Scott may have a point about him still not firing on all cylinders -- he had some weird turnovers. Sherron should get better, too.